Mendoza, Jones a tough duo to stop

John Talman | Recruiting Analyst

HOUSTON - It's really not a shock that Spring Woods is set to have another big junior class and it definitely starts with the offensive backfield where coach Dwayne Eggerman has properly named his star running backs the "one-two punch."

First is the shifty all-purpose back Marcus Mendoza who is a 5-foot-10, 175-pound headache for defenses to bring down. He averaged 8.4 yards a carry and Mendoza put together a junior year that included 657 yards and 10 touchdowns. His teammate and fellow running back Mike Jones also had a 6.8 yard average and made some noise.

There is definitely an offensive duo developing in Mendoza and Jones.

"It works for us," Jones said. "Marcus started his sophomore year, so he kind of has a leg up on me. But, we go out there and do what we can together."

Mendoza's experience on the field as a two-year starter looks to pay off in his senior season. He has also developed a good relationship with his fellow teammates.

"I feel like I can be a leader out there," Mendoza said. "I can help other people out during the game from what I can do. I've been working hard on my game to make sure and take it between the tackles and try not to go outside that much."

"That's kind of what I pride myself on and I want to continue to get better on that."

Mendoza and Jones are also thinking about recruiting. They both have some distinct characteristics about what they see for their college choice.

"I really like Texas Tech," Mendoza said. "They've got a good team and a good coaching staff. They're winning a lot of games and I really like that team."

Both players are hearing from not only Tech, but receiving letters from Oklahoma State, UTEP, and Texas A&M.

While they have a big senior season awaiting, they have used their junior season to ask fellow players like Daniel Johnson about improving not only their game, but how to go about the recruiting process.

"We ask Daniel a lot of questions like what type of stuff we need to do to get into college," Jones said. "That way when it all starts for us, we know what to expect. It's good when the coaches come down here to look at him too because we're getting those early looks."